Wildfire's review of: Megatron

Generation: ArmadaFirst cartoon appearance: First Contact"My power is your doom!"

Megatron commands the Decepticons by being the strongest and most terrifying warrior of them all. He can use his massive firepower for maximum devastation, enabling him to level a battlefield to the ground. There can be only one ruler of the universe, and Megatron intends to be that ruler. He will not stop until he has the Minicons because they will give him unimaginable abilities and power. Will he achieve his goal to become ruler and destroy the Earth in his quest to posses the Minicons?

Vehicle Mode: Megatron has assumed the form of a mighty battle tank in Armada and couldnt be more fearsome. He is primarily an olive green with dark bluish gray, purple, silver, black, yellow, and neon orange details. The tank has incredible detailing including headlights, hatches, grates, tubes, pipes, mechanical bits and grooves. The front fenders have serrated edges, like this machine could ram straight through barriers and foes alike. To aid in this, there are also huge serrated pinchers between the fenders, which could easily grab or decapitate enemies. Megatron is packed with features, most of which deal with enslaving Minicons. Pushing back on the turret barrel fires a missile accompanied by a cannon blast noise. Pushing the black button on the left front fender opens three panels, each of which has a Powerlinx point on it. The right fender has an orange ramp which can either hold a Minicon normally, or be flipped up to form a launch pad for one of the Aerial team. The purple Powerlinx point on the top of the turret unlocks the missile launcher on the other side of the turret. Place a Minicon on the point then pull back and to the right, the cannon will rise then make a firing noise, launch the missiles by pushing the black buttons on the launcher itself. The green point behind the cannon makes a machine gun noise when you attach a Minicon and turn it left or right. Firing the cannon, missiles, or activating the machine gun noise also makes a red light behind the translucent Decepticon symbol on the right side of the turret flash repeatedly. Turning the turret to either side will activate a rather generic voice that yells Decepticons! Attack! followed by the cannon, missile and machine gun noises. Cool, but its not David Kayes voice... On the rear right fender, there is a section with a Powerlinx point sticking out from the side, pull down on this to reveal a platform then fold the ramp forward and push forward on the purple button on the top of the fender to slide out a purple claw that can grab a Minicon. On the left rear fender, there is a section that protrudes, pull it outward then lift the upper half and push down the lower half to form a chamber that supposedly can hold a Minicon. In my belief, this chamber is for torture, not storage. Looking in the back, you may notice grinding wheels, that coupled with Megatrons personality makes me think this chamber is to punish disobedient Minicons, not carry them. Megatron is said to be able to hold 10 Minicons in this mode and Ill admit I have managed to attach Swindle, Leader-1, the Aerial team, the Race team, and the Demolition team, though it gets a little cramped. Overall the tank is very nice and very imposing, fitting of an evil leader.

Robot Mode: Flip the tank over so its underside is facing you. Pull down on the rear treads to detach them from the main body then straighten them out to form the robot legs. Rotate the waist around by turning it right (you may need to move the turret a little so the waist gets clearance.) Pull up on the gray wedges at the ends of the legs and fold them up against the shins to form the feet, push the gray bits behind the feet back to give the robot better balance. If Megatrons faceplate is up, push down on the small purple piece that has a tiny Decepticon logo on it to reveal Megs smiling mug. Next, pull open both dark gray panels on the sides of the upper treads and pull Megatrons arms out of them and down to his sides, close the panels afterwards. Megatron is now in his Robot mode.Just as the tank was imposing, so is the robot. Megatron has a furious scowl on his face and the pinchers from his tank form have become huge horns on his head, one hand is clenched in a fist, the other is clawed with spring loaded fingers. His shoulders bear large Decepticon symbols, as does the small purple panel on his chest. In robot mode, Megs is mainly purple, black, and silver, a lot of green is now hidden except for his lower legs. He has bright orange on his face, eyes, and parts near his hips, shoulders, and horns. He has 13 points of articulation, most of them in his arms, but he also has a swivel waist. Unfortunately, his legs can only kick outwards, limiting his poseability. Megatron can carry about nine Minicons in robot mode and has only one new feature revealed, attach a Minicon to his left forearm point and slide it forward and a dagger springs out of his palm and up into his hand. If you rotate the turret on his back around to either side and swing the barrel under an arm, he can use its firepower in robot mode. The turret can also either swing loose or be locked into place, on the left side of Megatrons body, near his waist you will see a purple peg extending out. Above this in the chest section is an indentation in the gray plastic. If the peg is free from the indentation, you can turn it and the turret will turn as well, but if you lift upwards on the chest, fit the peg into the indentation, and push the chest back down, the turret will be locked and wont flop around. If you want, you can also make full use of Megatrons firepower. Lift the chest again and raise the arms up, then turn the waist section the turret is attached to around to the front and lower the chest again. Now Megatron can use his cannon and his missile launcher. If you want to increase Megs firepower more, remove all his missiles from their launcher and open the gray panel on his left shoulder, inside are grooves that the missiles fit into, close the panel again and Megatron looks more powerful.

Minicon: Megatrons Minicon is Leader-1. For those not in the know who wonder why everyone giggles when Leader-1 is mentioned, he was the leader of the Gobots, the toyline that tried to steal Hasbros thunder with their own transforming robots line. Of course Hasbro won and now owns the rights to Gobots. So the fact that the leader of the good Gobots is now a slave to Megatron is a source of endless amusement to Transformers fans. Leader-1 is some type of lightly armed military vehicle. He has four treaded wheels and two large orange cannons on his roof. He is mainly light gray with orange cannons, dark turquoise front fenders and rear section, and yellow windows in his cockpit. To transform Leader-1, pull back on cannons until they are straight then fold the orange parts into the gray parts, rotate the fenders down to form his arms and there you have it. Leader-1 is tall and thin, he has a visor in place of eyes and his face seems to be hidden behind a cowl of sorts. His Minicon symbol is on the middle of his chest. He has six points of articulation, which is a lot for a toy his size. An interesting point of note is that he appears to have a device like brass knuckles on his right hand, making it look like hes got more tricks up his sleeve than hes letting on. Leader-1 has several weapon modes to use with Megatron. He can of course be attached to any Powerlinx point in vehicle mode to add firepower, but real fun is his other modes. The easiest is to turn him to robot mode but not tuck in his orange cannons, like this he can attach to Megatrons forearm and look like wrist weapon. From this mode simply pull one of his arms down and put it in Megatrons closed fist to form a rifle-like weapon. Finally, bend his legs backward a little and opening the gray panel on Megs right shoulder, youll see a slot that Leader-1s cockpit slides into, close the panel again and Leader-1 is a shoulder mounted cannon!

Transformation: 3 - Suprisingly simple for such a large figureDurability: 10 - Totally solidFun: 10  Loads of features in both modes, lights, sounds, yup, hes definitely more fun than said barrel of monkeys.Price: 6  Not bad, around $25 is what I paid for mine, but not the cheapest in Armada, the only thing thatll be a bigger kick in your wallet at the moment is Prime.Overall: 9  Evil leader that shows us everything Armada should be, he would get a 10 if he had a better voice.